This spotlight post--featuring ROM paper conservation intern Natasa Krsmanovic--highlights her background, shares her perspective on current paper conservation practices, and discusses her treatment projects at the museum.

After looking at the best known of the dubious ‘Minoan’ figurines (which may be modern) in my last post, here I show some of the genuine Minoan objects discovered in archaeological excavations on Crete.

The ROM Goddess is just one of the ‘Minoan’ figurines in several museums sometimes thought to be fake. These two installments of the ROM Minoan Goddess project introduce you to some of the suspected (although not definitively proven) fake figurines, and the genuine Minoan objects that may have inspired them.

"Team Keall"--University of Toronto students Daira Szostak and Nicole Marcogliese--have been working on the archives of ROM archaeologist Ed Keall. Here, Daira shares some of the fascinating records they've found related to the ROM's excavations at Qal'eh-i Yazdigird in the 1970s.

Dr. Kenneth Lapatin, an expert in ancient ivory and gold statues, talks about the ROM's ‘Minoan’ goddess in a Google+ Hangout. His research and publications about the suspect Minoan ivory figurines prompted the ROM to reconsider the display of their own ‘icon’.

The horse is not just a form of transportation, but is a weapon in itself. The genus Equus is thought to have evolved over 4 million years ago in North America, specialising in being able to eat the grass of the steppelands and run away from predators. North American horses later became extinct, possibly due to hunting by humans, although various species of horse, asses and zebras thrived in the Old World.